Haitian empowerment must be the prime goal

We the undersigned are outraged by the scandalous delays in getting essential aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti ('Chaotic and confusing' relief effort is costing lives, aid agencies warn, 19 January). As a result of the US decision to prioritise the accumulation of foreign soldiers over the distribution of emergency supplies, untold numbers of people have died needlessly. We demand that US commanders immediately restore executive control of the relief effort to Haiti's leaders, and to help rather than replace the local officials they claim to support.

Obsessive foreign concerns with "security" and "violence" are refuted by actual levels of patience and solidarity on the streets of Port-au-Prince. In keeping with a long-standing pattern, US and UN officials continue to treat the Haitian people and their representatives with wholly misplaced fear and suspicion. We call on the de facto rulers of Haiti to do everything possible to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian people to respond to this crisis. We demand, consequently, that they allow Haiti's most popular and most inspiring political leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (whose party won 90% of the parliamentary seats in the country's last round of democratic elections), to return immediately from the unconstitutional exile to which he has been confined since the US, Canada and France helped depose him in 2004.

If reconstruction proceeds under the supervision of foreign troops and international development agencies it will not serve the interests of the vast majority of Haitians. We call on the leaders of the international community to respect Haitian sovereignty and to initiate an immediate reorientation of international aid, away from neoliberal adjustment, sweatshop exploitation and non-governmental charity, and towards systematic investment in Haiti's own government and public institutions. We demand that France pays the colossal amount of money it owes Haiti in full and at once.

Above all, we demand that the reconstruction of Haiti be pursued under the guidance of one overarching objective: the political and economic empowerment of the Haitian people.

• There is a crucial element missing from your editorial (20 January). Transparency International's Perceived Corruption Index (2009) shows Haiti at 168 in a total of 180 countries. The higher the figure, the more is the extent of corruption as perceived by indigenous observers. Corrupt practice ensures that buildings will more readily collapse in earthquakes, contracts and permissions are skewed, inspections and supervision are bribed, and construction processes are depleted by the omission or substitution of crucial materials and requirements. The same applies in Haiti as is quoted from Afghanistan: "bribery is a crippling tax on people who are already among the world's poorest" (Report, 20 January).

Declarations from donor governments and NGOs that fraud, bribery and backhanders will not be tolerated, and that all financial dealings will be transparent, would ensure endemic corrupt practice comes to the surface instead of remaining covert and unspoken. Starting this now, in the relief phase, as a mutual code for donors and recipients alike, would appropriately set the stage for even larger sums of money in reconstruction.

James Lewis

Marshfield, Gloucestershire

• Ed Pilkington identifies (Report, 20 January) that international agencies are calling for an urgent moratorium on adoptions from Haiti that were not already under way before the earthquake. Given the need to preserve the family, cultural and religious autonomy of these children, and to reduce the risk of trafficking and abuse, this must be right.

What protections are in place to protect the orphans in Haiti from "travelling sex offenders"? Given the scale of the disaster, effective state policing of crime against children in Haiti is unlikely in the foreseeable future. If the UK legislation is any guide, these intrinsically vulnerable children will receive little protection in respect of preventing such offenders travelling to Haiti.

The legislation directed at preventing travel by those representing a significant risk of committing sexual offences against children requires (i) a qualifying conviction, and (ii) evidence that since the date of the conviction "the [offender] has acted in such a way as to give reasonable cause to believe that it is necessary for such [a foreign travel] order to be made". Unless these prerequisites are met – and they frequently are not – no order preventing foreign travel can be made by a court even where the evidence of risk to children is overwhelming.

UK police forces do not have the resources to monitor convicted offenders in order to prove further conduct since the date of the conviction. Inexplicably, the second of the preconditions does not apply to equivalent orders designed to protect children in the UK from identical sexual abuse. UK children thus enjoy greater protection than those in other jurisdictions where the probability of detection and prosecution is negligible.

The human rights of children abroad surely should take precedence over the human right of high-risk adults to travel.

Hugh Davies

London

• There must be hundreds of journalists "on the ground" in Haiti. With supporting staff, this could run into thousands. All in need of shelter, sustenance and security, not to mention power for the laptop. Do we need such multiplication of effort? Perhaps a "disasters media committee" should be formed to suspend normal competition, allocate media organisations and ensure sharing of material.